Bulk Rate

The Maids Inter-national Inc. recently revved up its residential
cleaning service program by offering multiple-territory "Mega
Markets" to interested franchisees. A single territory is
defined as 10,000 homes with incomes over $50,000; a Mega Market
multiplies that by four.

In July 1999, Terri Stull-Higgins, 43, and Lee Higgins, 47,
decided to not only join the company but to take it a step further
and start a Mega-5, a group of five markets, north of Dallas. If
their franchise stopped taking new clients today, it would still
make $312,000 per year, but the couple won't be slowing down
any time soon. "We just started," Lee points out.
"This business has the potential to be high-dollar and
high-volume in a short amount of time."

So why go for the Mega Market instead of starting out small?
"The start-up costs aren't really that much more than for
a single market," reports Lee. "Either way, you'll
still need a couple cars, an office space and an advertising
program. The expenses are generally the same whether you have one
market or five." Start-up costs for The Maids International
range from $163,000 to $235,000 for a Mega Market franchise;
additional markets slightly increase the price.